Massive Publicity Campaign to Boost Support for "Sicko"

As part of the buildup to the release of his new film, "Sicko," Michael Moore is engaging in a massive publicity campaign that is sure to get people talking about the healthcare system and see that the movie does good business. (For Moore, these two things are one and the same). Yesterday Moore, along with members of the California Nurses Association, stood outside the California State Capitol in Sacramento and chanted, "It's time for them to go"-health insurance companies, that is.Moore has struck a great deal: organizations that support universal health care will get publicity from the movie, and they will help give the movie legitimacy. MoveOn.org plans to have its members support the film in much the same way that they supported Moore's last picture, "Fahrenheit 9/11." Moore seems confident that his film will spur support for universal health care. "They [conservatives] don't [mistrust me] anymore," he said. "Some of my strongest letters of support (now) come from conservatives, former Republicans who feel like they've been had. They realize that I was actually standing up for them and trying to speak the truth". It is true that the political climate right now is more uniformly anti-Bush than it was when "Fahrenheit" opened; still, Moore's attitudes as a filmmaker (in his previous films, anyway) are too glib and self-congratulatory to provoke serious debate. Liberals like him because he tells them what they want to hear.